How To Enable Find My iPhone to Find a Lost or Stolen iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

Posted On March 31, 2017November 22, 2018

Posted By Swati Pandey

How To Enable Find My iPhone to Find a Lost iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch- Unexpected events can occur in anyone’s life. We may not be able to avoid them but can prepare for them. Losing your iPhone or any other Apple device can be one of them. However, you can always restrict anyone from accessing your personal data on your stolen/lost iPhone. You can also find it if you have iCould’s Find My iPhone service activated. I hope you never get into this situation but if you do, you can find your iPhone. Let us see how to use Find My iPhone app to find a lost/stolen iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch when it is offline or online.

How To Enable Find My iPhone App to Find a Lost iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

Find My iPhone is a wonderful app that is designed to help you find your phone or lock your personal data in case your phone is lost or stolen. The features of the app can only be used if you have the app enabled on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch before it is lost. So first you need to enable FindMyiPhone service activated on your iPhone. Open the iCloud app on your device which you want to be tracked and login with Apple ID password. Enable the Find My iPhone app and take a mock trial if it is working good. In case your mobile is missing, you can track it by logging in to the same iCloud account on another device.

Locating your device using Find My iPhone

If your device has been stolen or lost, log in to your iCloud account by visiting http://icloud.com/find from a MAC or PC or on any other iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch that is connected to the internet. Open Find My iPhone on the list of web-based tools. When you click on ‘All Devices’ from the menu, you get to see all the devices that linked to the account including iPhone, iPad Mini, or iPad Touch. You can then tap on the specific device to get its current location on Google Maps. The location of your lost iPhone will be displayed as a small green dot. You can zoom in to get the precise location of your device.

Then you can report your lost or stolen iPhone to the local law enforcement agency to get your lost or stolen iPhone back by informing them about the current location. They may also ask for the serial number of the device. There are many ways to find the serial number of your Apple device like from the Settings, on the physical device, in iTunes, and on the original packaging. For more ways to find it go here.

How to restrict unauthorized access to your personal data on your lost/stone iPhone?

Once you can see your device on the list, you have a few options to prevent unauthorized access to your personal data on the lost/stolen phone. You can activate the Lost Mode on your lost iPhone. This will set up a passcode that will be required to unlock the screen on your missing mobile. No one can turn off Lost Mode or use any other service on your lost iPhone until you give them the passcode. In Lost Mode, your Apple Pay service will get barred from that particular device. You can also enter a contact number while you set up this mode.

When anyone would try to unlock the screen, he will see the contact details where he can contact you. There is another option that allows you to delete all the personal data on your lost/stolen mobile. You just need to tap the ‘Erase iPhone’ button. There is a third option of ‘Play Sound’ that is particularly useful if your iPhone is misplaced. For instance, if you are sure that your iPhone is at home but cannot find it, you can use this option to locate your phone.

What To Do If Your iPhone Is Offline or Turned off?

If you lost or stolen iPhone is not connected to the internet or is switched off or Location Services are disabled, you will not be able to track it instantly. However, you can tick the option ‘Notify Me When Found’ and select one of the options among Lost Mode, Erase iPhone, and Play Sound. Whenever your mobile will be turned on and its connection to the internet is restored, the selected option will be applied to the lost device.

What to do if Find My iPhone service wasn’t enabled on your phone?

In case you didn’t turn on FindMyiPhone service then you can’t use it to locate your device but still, you can do a few most important things to secure your data and money. Change your Apple ID password which will secure Apple pay and all your iCould data from unauthorized access. Change passwords to your social accounts and report stolen or lost device to law enforcement agencies. Also, get your number barred by contacting your mobile carrier.

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